Two months
have passed since Strange and the Hulk rescued Namor from the
clutches of Necrodamus. During this time, with the Hulk departed,
Namor and Dr. Strange have scoured the Earth in search of the
Silver Surfer who they believe aided the vile Necrodamus in his
attempt to slay the Sub-Mariner. On this day, Namor is searching
the ice-laden waters of the south polar seas when he is joined by
the astral-projection of Dr. Strange who reports that he has no
news yet as to the whereabouts of the Silver Surfer. As Namor
laments the fact that he thinks the Surfer has left the planet
itself, suddenly the Surfer appears. Swooping down, the Silver
Surfer plucks Namor from the frigid waters and with exuberance
relates how content he is with the world and that he wishes to
join with Namor again (see Sub-Mariner #34 and #35) to aid the planet Earth.

The
Sub-Mariner is still fuming at the silver hero for his role in
the recent conflict with Necrodamus and lays a wallop of a punch
on the Surfer. Strange meanwhile, watches on in astral form,
unable to participate. The Silver Surfer is totally surprised by
Namor's actions and cannot understand his behaviour. Indignant at
this treatment, the Surfer abruptly leaves the Sub-Mariner
promising that he will never again offer help to humans, and
plans on spending the remainder of his days in his private
valley. Strange watches helplessly as the Surfer departs but he
explains to Namor that he has an idea where this "private
valley" might be and so he beckons the Sub-Mariner to join
him at his sanctum sanctorum in Greenwich N.Y. to draw up plans.

Much
later, in the residence of Dr. Strange, Namor ascends the
staircase to the repository where the Master of the Mystic Arts
holds his manuscripts. Here, Strange reviews a diary written by a
friend of his, Kenneth Ward (see Doctor Strange #183). In this book, Strange
discovers that indeed, the Undying Ones were once associated with
a hidden Himalayan valley. The diary reveals the valley's
location and they believe this might be the same valley to which
the Surfer earlier referred. Before they depart, Strange explains
that it might be better to summon the Hulk so that he may pay
retribution to Necrodamus who stabbed him twice in their last
battle.

Moments
later, they discover the Hulk and convince him to join them.
Wearing Strange's cloak of levitation, the Hulk permits Strange
to sit on his shoulders and they fly off towards their
destination...the mountains of Asia. Meanwhile, the doomsday
device Omegatron, which was accidentally set off last issue
continues to tick at a rate of 1 second per month! Finally, the
Defenders arrive in the Himalaya's where they discover a small
village whose inhabitants run in fear of them. Obviously, they
have been warned by the Undying Ones never to speak to the
Defenders. More evidence that they are in the right place. Dr.
Strange uses his magic to create the illusion that the trio are
merely explorers and casts a spell of forgetfulness over the
village.

Using
several villagers as guides, they set off to search the area.
They climbed the mountains and scoured the area to no avail and
when it grew dark, they set up camp and slept by firelight. The
next morning they awake to find the guides missing and mysterious
sets of bare footprints leading away from the camp. The tracks
lead suspiciously to a previously unseen valley. They discover a
dead guide whose hand points to the valley's entrance. As they
enter the valley, they notice it becomes warmer and suddenly,
they are confronted by what the Hulk calls
"Monkey-Men", strange hairy beasts who the trio believe
are responsible for the guide's death. They speak in a strange
tongue and the Hulk wasting no time in argument, picks up one of
the Monkey-Men and hurls it at the others.

Suddenly,
the Silver Surfer arrives and intervenes in anger. He harshly
explains that the creatures are harmless and are his friends.
Namor, his own anger still fresh from their last meeting, ignores
the beasts and launches an attack on the Surfer calling him a
villain. The Silver Surfer still does not understand why the
Sub-Mariner is so angry with him. So, Doctor Strange intervenes
and asks Namor to explain himself. The Sub-Mariner then recounts
his story: The Sub-Mariner and his cousin Namorita were building
a new south pole home when he sent her to retrieve more supplies
being that the area they were in was short of building material.
When she had left, he suddenly feel the workings of some
enchantment and he blacked out. He awoke at one point to discover
Necrodamus and the Silver Surfer conversing in low tones and the
last thing he remembered was being tossed from the Surfer's board
to the earth below.

Hearing
this story, the Silver Surfer vehemently denied everything saying
that he has not seen Namor in months. The Silver Surfer then
recounts his own tale: After Galactus left Earth (see Fantastic Four
#123)
the Silver Surfer sought to cleanse himself of the stain from the
psychic battle so he went off on his own and discovered this
near-human tribe and decided he could finally do something
constructive. He aided the tribe by teaching them the rudiments
of civilization and once he felt he had steered them along the
right path he returned to the outside world. However, Dr. Strange
interrupts and points out to the Silver Surfer that these same
Monkey-Men were responsible for killing one of their guides. Just
as the Surfer was about to deny this claim, the creatures undergo
a sudden transformation and become human! The leader of these men
explains that they are "Calizuma and his Warrior
Wizards" and that they did, indeed, kill the guide.

As the battle ensues, Calizuma explains
that they infiltrated this valley and exerted subtle mind control
on the Silver Surfer, making him do their bidding. All the while,
Namor and the Hulk battle the minions while Strange went
head-to-head with Calizuma. While the rest of the Defenders
easily handle the Warrior Wizards, Dr. Strange is struggling with
the more powerful Calizuma. It is only through the combined
forces of the FOUR Defenders in one big WHACK! that he falls to
defeat. The Doctor then places a spell of atonement over the
defeated group hoping that they forget their evil ways.
Meanwhile, the Surfer laments that Earth is such a warring planet
and he expresses his desire that he wishes he may one day be able
to return home. Enigmatically, Dr. Strange hints that he may be
able to grant the Silver Surfer his wish! .......